The AU force in Somalia (AMISOM) said it was helping to evacuate the wounded.

The hotel has been the target of al-Shabab attackers in the past, including in 2012 when suicide bombers stormed the hotel while President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was inside.

On Saturday al-Shabab fighters killed Abdulahi Hussein Mohamud, a parliament member, spraying his vehicle with gunfire as he travelled through a southern district of Mogadishu, killing him, his two guards and the driver.

UPDATE: There have been a few civilian deaths near the street, but we're thankful for the survival of hundreds inside hotel for a workshop.

Al-Shabab said in a statement that its "Mujahideen fighters targeted and killed a member of the parliament and his guards", adding that it "will continue targeting" legislators.

The attack on Sunday comes a day after US President Barack Obama said during his visit to Nairobi, in neighbouring Kenya, that while al-Shabab had been "weakened", the overall security threat posed by it remained.

"We have been able to decrease their effective control within Somalia and have weakened those networks operating here in East Africa," he said.

"That doesn't mean the problem is solved."

The Jazeera Hotel was targeted in 2012 when bombers stormed it while the Somali president was inside [Mustaf Abdi/Al Jazeera]